In 2011, China surpassed Japan to become the world’s second economic power. The economic boom and the desire for liberalism have multiplied the energy demand per capita, transforming the Country into the world’s largest energy consumer in 2009. In 2010, energy consumption in China rose to 5.9% equalling 3.25 billion tons of coal. Ninety per cent of the nation’s energy system relies on coal, which is largely blamed for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for high Co2 emissions, particulate matter, hydrocarbons, mercury and arsenic. China is also the highest consumer of coal in the world, “burning” alone a quantity slightly higher than the six major consumer countries that follow it put together, in the order of the USA, India, Germany, Russia, Japan and South Africa. In winter the Hong Kong cityscape disappears into the engulfing smog, an aesthetic common to all Chinese megalopolises.